all the members rejoice with it." Suppose, for one melancholy moment, that this healthful economy of exchanges was broken up-that the western valley was shut out from the sea by adverse governments-that those on the coast were hemmed into their own narrow limits by hostile forts along the mountain ridges-that between the North and the South there was neither commercial nor moral sympathy-that at every State line passports were demanded and a tariff set-who must not shrink from describing the terrible consequences, the stagnation of trade, the silence of brotherly council, the constant feuds, the multiplication of armies, the Cain-like, exterminating wars, the overthrow of law by military dictators, the utter ruin of all that makes us prosperous at home and respected abroad, the sure catastrophe, moral and national death.

HABIT AS RELATED TO BUSINESS.

We cut from a late number of the Dry Goods Reporter, the following brief but com prehensive essay on "Habit as related to business," commending its valuable suggestions to the serious attention of the readers of the Merchants' Magazine:

The power of habit is very well indicated by the saying, "Habit is second nature.' There is no exaggeration in the adage, as we shall be forced to admit if we consider facts. Take the frequently occurring case of individuals born blind, or early deprived of sight, and observe how the habit of nice observation through the sense of feeling will often astonish you by his accurate descriptions of things which he has examined by means of his exquisitely practised touch.

The wonderful accuracy of the forest bred Indian in detecting and describing the number and character of a party who have preceded him through the woods, and the certainty with which he will determine the time since they left any particular spot, have often astonished white men, who could see no signs on which to predicate an opinion. Yet the Indian is rarely, if ever, at fault. The reason is, that he has schooled his senses into unering habits of nice and accurate observation. His success in war and hunting, his life, and the safety of his tribe, depend upon his correctness of observation of those minute signs.

Now can any one doubt that habits of patient and accurate observation, such as the savage exhibits, would be of incalculable value if brought to bear upon all the minute details of business life? Or can it be doubted that habits of negligence and inattention in regard to the minute of business, will prove detrimental, if not fatal?

There is this additional thought, which is important and worthy to be considered, that the habit of closely observing, once formed, is seldom at fault, and performs its office spontaneously. To recur again to the Indian habit of minutely marking all the indications of a trail, he is not obliged to force his mind, it is his pleasure, and it forms one of the attractions of forest life, to watch every indented leaf, every faint foot-print, and every minute sign that some one has passed before him. So when a man in any department of business has once made it the habit of his life to watch closely and minutely all that bears upon and relates to his business operations, it becomes a pleasurable excitement instead of a laborious effort. We hardly ever knew a man who had formed habits of nice and detailed order, who did not make them a hobby which he delighted to ride as much as any child his New Year's present. The reason is, that when once habits of any kind, and especially those which we know and feel are important and valuable, have been formed, we take pleasure in acting conformably thereto.

The case of Bulwer, the great novelist, is sometimes quoted as illustrative of the advantage of habits of order. Bentley's Miscellany says he worked his way to eminence, worked it through failure, through ridicule. His facility is wonderful, but it is only the result of practice, study, habit. He wrote at first slowly and with great difficulty, but he resolved to master the stubborn instrument of thought, and he did master it. He has practised writing as an art, and has re-written some of his essays unpublished nine or ten times over. He only works about three hours a day, from ten in the morning till one-seldom later. The evenings when alone, are devoted to reading, scarcely ever to writing. Yet what an amount of good hard labor has resulted from these hours!

These are thoughts worthy of the consideration of all men, but especially of young men in business, who have the most of life before them. It may be considered as an indubitable principle that he who succeeds in early life in establishing good business

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and moral habits, disposes thereby of the heavy end of the load of life; all that remains he can carry easily and pleasantly. On the other hand, bad habits, once formed, will hang forever on the wheels of enterprise, and in the end will assert their supremacy to the ruin and shame of their victim.

WASHING AND BATHING ESTABLISHMENTS.

We have received a report presented by Aldermen Shultz, Allen, and Kelly, to the Common Council, on the subject of public baths and wash houses, furnishing much interesting information in regard to these beneficent establishments in England; and we have also seen some statistical reports from one of them, all tending to show, not only the eagerness with which the labouring and poorer classes avail themselves of the privileges these establishments offer, but also the practicability of making them (frequented as they are by the million, instead of the wealthy few) pay handsome dividends on their cost, even though the tariff of prices for bathing, and for washing clothes, is low enough to come within the reach of the poorest-less even than the cost of fuel required for doing the same work at home.

The connection between CLEANLINESS of personal habits and of the dwellings of the poor, and the health, morals, and business prosperity of a great commercial city, is too obvious to require argument. A system of public baths and wash houses established and in operation throughout the different wards in the city of New York, most needing them, during the past summer, would, in all probability, have saved to the city much more than their cost; and the loss in consequence of the cholera panic, to the various branches of business depending upon our trade with the whole country, must be computed by thousands—we had almost said millions. Shall we not, then, without waiting for another similar visitation to stir up our public spirit, make an effort to introduce this system into our city? We are glad to learn that a project is on foot for the purpose. We have seen a subscription book, with the names of some of our most respected merchants and other citizens, appended to liberal sums, as stock subscriptions and donations, amounting in all to some ten thousand dollars, and understand that about an equal additional amount is wanted, before proceeding to organise a company, under a charter obtained from the Legislature last winter. We have a copy of the subscription paper at our office, and shall be glad to receive the names of such as may wish to subscribe. We sincerely hope the project may not fall through for want of sufficient public spirit in this community to make up the small sum required. The stock will probably pay as well as good bank stock.

MUTUAL LIFE INSURANCE.

Ten years ago Life Insurance was scarcely known in this country. Not over one in 30,000 of the American people had resorted to it; very little knowledge of the system had been diffused among our people up to that time-there were few who had any definite idea of the system-the masses gave no thought to the subject, and others equally ignorant of its true character, regarded it with pious horror, as implying a distrust of God's providence in the affairs of men. The error and this prejudice have passed away, and thousands and tens of thousands of our citizens, in all parts of the Union, are steadily resorting to Life Insurance, as the best and surest method of protecting their families from a precarious dependance upon the life of an individual.

In the estimation of well informed and thinking men, this institution now holds a front rank among the benevolent enterprises which modern philanthropy has originated for mitigating the evils, and for enhancing the enjoyments of social life.

Every good citizen, every man whose means are taxed to relieve the wants of others-in short, every member of the community, be his position what it may, is interested in the extension of the system of Life Insurance; inasmuch as the diffusion of its moral influence, and of the substantial benefits which result from it, are eminently calculated to strengthen the bonds of social life, and to avert the destitution and suffering which otherwise would too often fall to the lot of the helpless and dependant. Business enterprises carried to successful issues in a right direction, always afford ground for congratulation; and especially, as in the present instance, where all the advantages resulting from it, instead of enriching a privileged few, are reserved to be distributed among the many, for whose benefit the insurance was originally intended.

THE BOOK TRADE.

1.-Memoirs of the Life of William Wirt, Attorney-General of the United States. By JOHN P. KENNEDY. În Two Volumes. Philadelphia: Lea & Blanchard.

It is no more than justice that the eloquent biographer of Patrick Henry should have the history of his own life and triumps, recorded in the spirit of warm appreciation. Wirt's life of Patrick Henry has become one of the classics of American literature. His general criticism, or rather glowing enthusiasm, secured for the "forest-born Demosthenes" the place that belonged to him, in the estimation of America and Europe, as the first of popular transatlantic orators. It was the tribute of an orator to an orator, and as such, although too extravagant, perhaps, in the claims advanced, not the less creditable, on that account, to him who advanced them. We are glad, therefore, that the delicate task of portraying the life and character of William Wirt has been entrusted to a biographer like Mr. Kennedy, whose ability, whose opportunities for acquiring the necessary information, and whose trustworthiness and warm appreciation ensure a faithful biography of the eloquent advocate. The author's previous experience in public life, and as a writer, in which he has met with much success, has been of the right kind to qualify him for the duty he has so adroitly performed in these two beautiful octavos. They should be placed by the side of Wirt's life of Henry, on the shelf of the library. A finely-engraved portrait of Mr. Wirt, whose German features, as Mr. Kennedy remarks, remind one of some of the portraits of Goethe, adorns the first volume. Prefixed to the second, is a fac-simile of an interesting letter addressed to Mr. Wirt, by John Adams, in 1818. Mr. Kennedy has evidently had access to numerous sources of information, to private documents, and, above all, to the ample correspondence of Mr. Wirt. The letters of a great man, if he was in the habit of frequently writing, if that habit was kept up through life, and if his disposition, and the character of those to whom he wrote, encouraged free communication of views and wishes, constitutes, after all, the best biographer, being the most reliable of autobiographies. They form an autobiography, written, not aforethought, with an awkward malice prepense, if we may so speak, but pro re nata, evolved and thrown out from the whirl of life, and of the fortunes of him it portrays. It is a daguerreotype, painted from the living features by the sunlight of daily life. Mr. Kennedy, like Lockhart, in his life of Scott, and all the better class of biographers, attaches their true value, and gives due prominence to letters. Mr. Wirt's letters seem to have been placed, almost without restriction, at the author's disposal, and he has used them freely, but with taste and judgment. His labors, as an editor, have been directed to their true object, of bringing before the reader not the writer's opinions, but the life and character of him whose biography he writes. We have the necessary amount of explanation to clear up doubtful allusions, and enough narrative to connect the numerous letters with which the two volumes are filled, into a continuous narrative. We are much mistaken, if Mr. Wirt's letters do not prove a great, as well as unexpected, treat to many readers. His correspondence, not on business merely, but with his friends, was voluminous. Begun early, it was kept up steadily to the end. His was a nature to make many friends, and to retain them. Mr. Wirt wrote an admirable letter-easy, flowing, full of spirit and fun, and, at the same time, correct, and elegant. His epistolary ease and readiness remind one of Scott's off-hand effusions. We certainly do not know of a better collection of American letters, and they may take their place with Cowper, Scott, De Sevigne, and other masters of letter-writing. The author's labors have not been confined to the mere task of annotation. His remarks on the public events of the times in which Wirt lived, with many of which he was connected, as Attorney-General of the United States, or as counsel in cases growing out of them, and upon the political aspects of those times, and the course of parties, give the work an interest and value for the student of political history.

2.-Fireside Fairies; or, Christmas at Aunt Elsies. By SUSAN PINDOR. New York: D. Appleton & Co.

The author of this beautiful little volume has succeeded to a charm in decking familiar yet important truths, and the home duties of every-day life, in the pleasing drapery of fairy land. That it will serve, in some measure, to anchor a seasonable thought, leading ultimately to an active principle, we do not entertain a doubt.

3.-A Treatise on the Practice of the Courts of the State of New York, adapted to the Code of Procedure, as amended by the Acts of April 11, 1849, and the Rules of the Superior Court. To which is added, the Practice in Courts of Justices of the Peace. With an Appendix of Practical Forms. By CLAUDIUS L. MONELL, Councellor at Law. Albany: Gould, Banks, and Gould, 104 State-street. New York: Banks, Gould, & Co.

The difficulty with the practising lawyer in New York, under the New Code, is not so much to find out what changes have been made, and what the new law is, as to determine how much and what parts of the old law remain unaltered. For the new system, he has only to refer to the code, which is (generally speaking) worded with clearness and precision. The more important question is how, and how far, existing forms have been modified or suspended by the new law, and how far they remain untouched: what, in short, is the existing practice as a whole, the old with the new. This question is ably and as fully answered as the present undeveloped state of the system allows, in Mr. Monell's Treatise, which is published in Gould & Bank's usual good style, on good paper, with clear and large type, and those still more important requisites in a book of practice, full indexes and tables of contents. A glance at the analytical table of contents, at the beginning of the book, shows the extent of ground the treatise covers, and the correctness and convenience of its arrangement. In Part First, the subject of remedies is considered with reference to the distinctions of the Code, of Actions and Special Proceedings, of Actions Civil and Actions Criminal, and to its provisions on the subject of parties and the rules of pleading. In Part Second, the proceedings in an action are methodically considered, in the order in which they occur, from the service of the summons to the enforcement of execution, and including incidental proceedings, which more or less frequently occur. Appended to the work is a collection of such practical forms as the recent changes chiefly call for. On the whole, we think this work decidedly the best Treatise on the New Practice in New York which has yet appeared. It at once presents a correct analysis of the contents of the code, and its relation to, and bearing upon, the previous practice of the State. Knickerbocker's History of New

4.-Illustrated Editions of Irving's Traveler. York. New York: George P. Putnam. Besides the handsome uniform edition of Washington Irving's works, recently published by Mr. Putnam, and heretofore noticed in our Magazine, we have now before us two splendid volumes, selected from that series, printed on the finest paper, and copiously illustrated with a great number of Mr. Darley's admirable designs, engraved by some of our most eminent artists. "The Tales of a Traveler" has seventeen, and Knickerbocker's History of New York sixteen, engraved illustrations, that would do credit to the skill and genius of England's best artists. Among the many works designed for presents, either among the annuals or perennials-and these belong to the latterthere are none, we venture to say, more appropriate for that purpose-certainly none more elegant and beautiful in design or execution.

5.-Family Pictures from the Bible. By Mrs. ELLET, author of "The Women of the American Revolution." New York: George P. Putnam.

Mrs. Ellet's agreeable and graphic pen pictures of the men, women, and children, referred to by the inspired historians, biographers, and poets, of the Old and New Testaments, as the books of the Bible are termed, have been beautifully illustrated by several of the best European artists. The illustrations, twelve in number, are engraved from paintings of Pousson, Mola, Coning, Guercino, Copley, Wheatly, Rubens, Guido, and Veit, and embrace "The Holy Family," "The Deluge," "Hagar in the Wilderness," "Isaac blessing Jacob," "Joseph before Pharaoh," "The Calling of Samuel,” “Ruth and Boaz," "Meeting of David and Abigail," "The Nativity," "The Marys at the Sepulchre," and "Martha and Mary." The volume is published in a style that harmonizes well not only with the literary excellence of the letter-press pictures, but with the masterly engravings of the artists who have contributed to make it one of the most desirable "gift books" for this and all seasons.

9.-The Complaint; or, Night Thoughts of Life, Death, and Immortality. By EDMUND YOUNG, LL. D. New York: Robert Carter & Brothers.

A new and beautiful edition of one of the most celebrated poems in the English language. It is printed, in the usual style of those publishers, on fine white paper, and in a clear and handsome type.

7-Glimpses of Spain; or, Notes of an Unfinished Tour in 1847. By S. T. WALLIS. 12mo. Harper & Brothers.

These very lively and readable sketches present the observations made during a three months visit to Spain. The author apparently carried with him an acquaintance with the Spanish character and language, and, above all, a disposition to be pleased with what he might see, even though it should differ from the habits of his own country, which went far to compensate for the shortness of his stay. He presents the national character, and the condition and prospects of Spain, in a light much more favorable than that in which we have been accustomed to regard them. The state of things there, he says, is changing steadily, and for the better. He "commends the Spanish people to his reader, assuring him that he will like them better on acquaintance. He can travel among them generally with comfort, always with pleasure. If they rob him on the highways, poison him in the kitchens, or burn him in a Plaza, as a heretic, he will have worse luck than has befallen any body lately, out of the pages of a traveler's story." The book is written in a genial spirit, and in a style of rare felicity. The appendix contains some curious particulars respecting Columbus, which have not before been published.

8—Boydell's Illustrations of Shakspeare. New York: S. Spooner.

We droped in at Dr. Spooner's, a few days ago, to see how he progressed with his great enterprise of restoring the world renowned work, Boydell's 100 Illustrations of Shakspeare. His success is truly astonishing. He has restored thirty of the most difficult plates to all the beauty of the earliest proofs struck by Boydell himself. We are borne out in this opinion by more than two hundred of our most distinguished artists, engravers, and literary men, who have personally examined the work, and have given their certificate to that effect to the proprietor. Few persons in this country are aware of the intrinsic merit of this magnificent work. Boydell was upwards of twenty years in getting it out, and employed none but the most distinguished artists of the age. The original cost of the work is said to have been the enormous sum of £1,000,000 sterling, and sunk the vast fortune of the proprietor in irretrievable ruin. In 1842, all the original copperplates fell into the hands of Dr. Spooner, who, since that time, has been constantly employed in making preparations for the successful restoration of the work. It is printed on fine, thick linen paper, 24 by 30 inches, accompanied by an elegant letter-press description of the plates, of the same size as the print, which is original with Dr. S., and is a distinguishing feature of the American edition, and adds greatly to its interest and beauty. Fifteen parts (thirty plates) are now before the public. This great work, when completed, will not only add to our natural reputation in enterprise, but it will have a good effect in elevating the public taste for the higher works of art. We know of no way by which a man can obtain so valuable a collection of beautiful engravings, as by subscribing for this work.

9.-Leaflets of Memory: an Illuminated Annual for MDCCCL. REYNELL COATES, M. D. Philadelphia: E. H. Butler & Co.

Edited by

The present is the sixth volume of this popular annual. It surpasses, if possible, all its predecessors, in beauty of execution, and in the variety and excellence of its contents. The discriminating judgment and fastideous taste of Dr. Coates, a gentleman as distinguished for his literary accomplishments as for his scientific attainments, is as apparent in the selection of writers and subjects, as in the elegant and chaste productions of his own pen, scattered here and there over its magnificent pages. We do not mean to say that the contributions are faultless, or that there is no chance for improvement in other respects. But as a whole, we repeat, it surpasses its predecessors, at least in artistic effect, and in all that constitutes the material of a "gift book" for the holydays. The illuminated illustrations, including the presentation plate, title page, and the vignette are beautiful specimens of that style of art, and, in our judgment, nearly faultless. They were designed by Devereux, and printed by Sinclair. The other plates in the number, illustrated with letter press descriptions, "Hero and Leander," "The Fair Dreamer," "Gabrielle d'Etrees," "The Voyage of Eros," "Phantasia," "The Surprise," "Rustic Nobility," and "Night," are all from the burin of Mr. Sartain, of whose skill in mezzotints, it would be a work of supererogation to speak. The binding of the volume, an important feature in an annual, although not gaudy, has an air of English durability, and at the same time Parisian elegance, in keeping with the gems of art, taste, and literature within.